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1 Corinthians 15:35–55
“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality” (vv. 51–53).
Scripture makes it plain that God applies salvation to us in an orderly sequence, giving us an order of salvation that we can study and so that we can find confidence that He who began a good work in us will surely complete it (Phil. 1:6). This order of salvation tells how our union with Christ is established and maintained. God foreknows us lovingly, and then He elects us to salvation. This is followed by the outer call of the gospel and the effectual call of the Spirit that regenerates us and grants us faith and repentance in our conversion to Christ. We are then declared righteous in our justification, adopted as God’s children, set apart as holy in our definitive sanctification, and made holy over time in our progressive sanctification. This order reaches its end and culmination in our glorification (Rom. 8:29–30; 2 Cor. 7:1; Eph. 1:3–14; 2:1–10; 1 Peter 1:3–25).
Our glorification is the full maturation of our regeneration and the completion of our progressive sanctification. When the Lord finally glorifies us, He removes the presence of sin from us and allows us to see Him. We will finally and fully be like Jesus insofar as it is possible for human persons with human natures to resemble Him, lacking all sinful desires and confirmed eternally in our love for God and for His people (1 John 3:1–3).
Many Christians will experience glorification in two stages, for we will be fully glorified only when our bodies are resurrected, as today’s passage indicates. Even though our souls go to be with Jesus in heaven if we die before His second coming, our glorification remains incomplete until His return to judge the living and the dead. Of course, it is far better to depart and be with Christ so as to experience an incomplete state of glorification than it is to remain in our present state (Phil. 1:23). In heaven, before the resurrection, we will be free of the trials of life and the pains and presence of sin. Still, we will not have all that Christ has won for us until our bodies are raised incorruptible and they are reunited with our spirits. Then our perishable bodies will put on the imperishable and our mortality will put on immortality (1 Cor. 15:51–53).
Our full experience of glorification will occur only at Christ’s return, but even now it is a sure thing. Those whom God has justified He has glorified (Rom. 8:29–30). If we trust in Jesus alone, there is no chance that God will fail to glorify us.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The application of our salvation will be fully and finally complete only when our bodies are raised from the dead and perfected in immortality. Then we will be fully what God intended us to be, perfectly holy and free of death. As we look forward to our partial glorification at our deaths and the completion of our glorification in our resurrection, let us be encouraged that our efforts toward holiness now will come to full fruition by God’s grace.
For further study
- Daniel 12:2
- Romans 8:16–17
The bible in a year
- Jeremiah 29–30
- Titus 2
- Jeremiah 31–35
- Titus 3–Philemon 1-25